Saudi Arabian Holiday
by CdnJAGScribe
Summary: AJ, Harm, Lia and Mac are taken hostage while in Iraq on a diplomatic mission. Needless to say a certain spook's mission goes south yet again.
1. Chapter 1

"Saudi Arabian Holiday"

Author: Haruo Chikamori

E-mail: hhchikamori

Rating: M

Classification: Harm/Lia, Mac/Animal

Spoilers: N/A

Summary: AJ, Harm, Lia and Mac are taken hostage while in Iraq on a diplomatic mission. Needless to say a certain spook's mission goes south yet again.

DISCLAIMER: The characters Harm Rabb, Jr., Sarah "Mac" Mackenzie, Meg Austin, AJ Chegwidden, Bud Roberts, Harriet Sims-Roberts et al. belong (in concept if not name) to CBS/Bellisarius. Animal and all OC characters are the property of Heather and Hugo Chikamori. No profit is being made from this story, nor is any infringement intended.

Author's Note: The AU Mac in this story is not the bitter, jaded Mac of the canon JAG TV show. In this timeline, she met Animal a lot earlier in her life and it made a hell of a difference. This timeline's Mac knows how to have a relationship without "playing games".

_**JAG HEADQUARTERS  
>FALLS CHURCH, VA<strong>_

Mac was fifteen minutes into reading over a case file when the door suddenly burst open and this time it wasn't a Commander Harmon Rabb Jr. interrupting her work. This time it was Harm's wife - Commander Liandra Gracen-Rabb came in like a whirlwind disrupting Mac's concentration on her case. Needless to say, the interruption couldn't have come at a more welcome time – the file wasn't looking good at all.

"Mac!" Lia exclaimed to her colleague as she brought in a Top Secret marked brief to her. Commander Liandra Gracen-Rabb grinned, "We've got a hot one here: Certain individuals' eyes only."

Lieutenant Colonel Sarah "Mac" MacKenzie-Nakamura looked at it grimacing. "Not another political junket." She groaned as she pored over the contents of the brief. "Do we really need to go glad-handing another foreign politician?" Mac threw up her hands and complained.

"Cushy, huh?" Lia grinned at her friend's disgusted expression "Admiral wants Harm, you and me on it." Liandra pretty much destroyed any hope of bowing out of the expedition gracefully. "Looks like we're headed to Saudi Arabia!" 

Mac sighed deeply. Animal was not going to like this. Actually, he was not going to like this one bit. More aptly, he was going to have screaming litters of kittens...expansive litters of screaming kittens. After he had finagled a holiday from assisting in running a battle group, they had packed their luggage in preparation for a relaxing vacation in the Caribbean. And now all of that preparation had gone to hell in a hand-basket. Animal was not going to be annoyed; Mac would place bets in Vegas on the fact that he'd be apoplectic.

"There's goes the trip to the Caribbean that Animal and I planned for our holiday." Mac sighed again as she looked over at Lia with pleading eyes "Are you sure I can't get out of this?"

"Nope." Lia replied with a smug look on her face.

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?" Mac said sardonically as she read the file some more. "Wanna break Animal the news?" At this, Lia's face took on a look of absolute horror.

"You're his wife, you do it." Was Lia's response shaking her head. Animal's temper was well-known throughout the fleet though he rarely ever used it – only when someone else did something incredibly stupid. When the rear admiral lower half unleashed his temper, captains and commanders looked for something to do – to try to appear busy. Lieutenant commanders and lieutenants made themselves scarce or hid themselves in the nearest trash compactor. And JGs and ensigns tended to cry for their mommy. Mac had seen her husband let loose once in her lifetime at some hapless lieutenant commanders who had forgotten some obscure preflight checklist item considering the fact that he later explained why it was so important. She could have sworn the walls of the hangar vibrated. Those lieutenant commanders shook like leaves after the dressing down. Animal had a short temper when it came to incompetence and he did not tolerate it. _Incompetence costs lives_ was one of his favorite sayings.

"He's not going to take this well..." Mac implored, pleading with her friend to help back her up.

"That's not surprising." Lia replied casually, making Mac wonder if there was a sympathetic bone in her friend's body. Probably not in this case.

Mac gave Lia her 'sad puppy' look. "Are you sure you won't help?".

It didn't work. "Nope. Can't and won't." Lia said as she headed out of Mac's office. She tossed back over her shoulder "Besides…I have to tell Harm."

"Thanks…" Mac said dryly.

"Don't mention it." Lia said snidely as she turned the corner and headed back towards her office.

_**MUCH LATER**_

Animal did not have screaming litters of kittens. He did not even have bobcats. He had a cougar. Mac was surprised the phone handset did not melt in her hand. "THEY WHAT?!" was his stentorian exclamation.

Mac held the receiver about two feet away from her right ear. She could have sworn that receiver vibrated. "I'm glad he's taking it so well." She muttered just softly enough so that he couldn't hear then said in a normal speaking tone. "Well, sweetheart, you think I like this either? After all, I was so looking forward to our holiday in the Caribbean." She paused as the telephone vibrated some more. "No, It's not like I had any decision in the process. No, Harm didn't either...Yes, even though he is technically the Chief of Staff. He was completely left out of the loop on this matter."

The snort on the other end of the phone line was distinctly sarcastic. "Oh…Yeah, right." her husband growled irritably. "Would you like me to come over and chew AJ a new ear?" He sounded like a grizzly bear startled out of a hibernation with a temper to match.

"I doubt that would do favors for your career, sweetie." Mac laughed. "Honey, he still is a two-star compared to your one."

"When do you have to leave?" The question hung in the air for a long moment as Mac tried to figure out a way to respond to that without Animal having another paroxysm of pique.

"They want us to leave tonight." Mac replied, bracing herself for another outburst from her one-star husband. 

Another irritated snort essayed from the receiver, "Well, it doesn't look like I can tell CNO to ixnay my vacation time, so I guess I'll have to take it in Saudi Arabia! Does AJ need a pilot on this press junket?" her husband asked.

"Can't hurt. I'm sure the admiral wouldn't mind having another FLAG officer on this, besides, the attaché is a Saudi Arabian rear admiral who is going with us to show us around" Mac replied, her heart a little lighter now. If she couldn't have the vacation she wanted in the Caribbean, she wanted to have her husband nearby. "Can you get a refund on the Caribbean tickets?" she asked, hoping the answer was 'yes'.

"I'll just get them transferred to a later date. Admiral's privilege." Animal replied. "If I recall correctly, Harm is frocked for one-star. Wouldn't another be overkill?"

Mac devilishly grinned knowing that her husband couldn't see the evil grin on her face. Just for making her squirm, she was going to get some retaliation. "Yeah, but the squid is just an imaginary one-star..." Mac purred sensuously. "My love of my life…meaning you…has stars for real." referring to Harm being able to wear the star of a rear-admiral, but couldn't collect the pay yet. Her throaty voice promptly caused her husband to groan audibly on the phone line. 

"Damn it, Sarah...you keep doing that, I won't be able to get out of my chair." Animal groaned, referring to her amorous teasing, reverting to a normal speaking tone, he asked. "Is the attaché an equivalent of a one-star?" 

"That's affirmative." Mac checked the file before answering. "Admiral Hamir Al-Fahid." She heard a snapping of fingers on the other end of the line. "What?"

"Ah, good ol'Admiral Ol'Fathead." Animal observed snidely. "He used to be the Saudi Navy corvette flotilla commander our squadron did a number on in a war-game five years ago."

Mac raised her eyebrows at Animal's derisive tone towards the Saudi attaché and admonished Animal. "OK...dearest. Be nice to him, OK? We don't want to tick our hosts off."

"I don't like the guy..." Animal concluded.

"Well, dear, you'll just have to put up with him."

"Sweetie," Animal replied considerately. "You do know 'putting up' means me kneeing him in the nuts. Standard Navy Pilot's greeting."

"Behave." Mac ordered, her voice showing a hint of laughter.

"Me...behave? I don't know the meaning of the word." Animal said snidely ignoring the fact that courtesy was very important in international relations especially in Arab nations.

"I'll buy you a dictionary." Mac retorted, biting down laughter at Animal's commentary.

"Naw...waste of money..." Animal replied as he paused just long enough to pretend to consult his Rolodex. "I'll just ask Demo Dick M. to teach me 'manners and deportment' and the finer art of being able to snort a meatball out my nose." 

Mac rolled her eyes. She swore her husband was incorrigible, "Honey...if you expect to come along, you are going to have to come to Falls Church. Can you bring one of my suitcases, the ones with the Class 'A's. And you had better bring your khakis and your dress-whites. You may need them."

"OK...be there in two hours." Animal stated as he calculated in his mind just how long it would take to get home, grab uniforms and head over to Falls Church.

"Two hours, fifteen minutes, and twenty-three seconds." Mac corrected – her internal clock had never failed her yet.

"Whatever you say, dearest." Animal said cheerily as he told Mac he loved her and hung up the phone.

"That man..." Mac whispered as a grin crept across her lips. 

_**2HRS, 15 MIN, 23 SEC LATER  
><strong>_

The swinging double-doors of the JAG Headquarters opened as a short fireplug Asian rear admiral (lower half) dressed in service whites replete with gold rear admiral lower half shoulder-boards came barrelling through the doors. The sudden intrusion elicited a rather loud bellow of "FLAG OFFICER ON DECK!" from Marine Corps Gunnery Sergeant Victor Galindez.

"As you were!" instructed Animal as he came to a stop in the middle of the bullpen. The JAG staff office visibly relaxed; this flag officer was well-known around the office as Lieutenant Colonel Mackenzie's spouse. Pausing for a moment to look around taking in his surroundings he grinned as his wife leaned her head out of her office. Animal strode through the office towards her. As he approached her, he grinned widely, "Lieutenant Colonel Mackenzie?"

"Admiral." She replied, her eyes glinting with suppressed joyful merriment at the supposed formal address that both she and her husband were using. He was just doing this to play up the scenario – the ham. What was unsaid was _I love you_ to each other but it was understood without saying. After ten plus years together, they didn't have to use words very often to convey that feeling to each other.

At the commotion in the middle of the bullpen, Harm and Liandra both stuck their heads out of their respective offices. Harm strode out to meet his friend in the middle of the bullpen. "Hey. Animal, So…are you coming with us?" he noted motioning at the simple fact that Animal was carrying a garment bag carrying his khakis which was the reputed summer dress uniform that was assigned to members in desert deployment.

"Well...all depends. I hate baklava, and lentils make me want to spew chunks, so yeah. Looks like I'll be coming along too." Animal said dryly. "Given the choice between relaxing in the Caribbean and dodging sand-vipers in the wadis, I figured, what the hell. You only live once." Staring pointedly at Harm he griped. "It was either that or Mac and I took separate vacations…and the likelihood of that happening is below nil." Looking over at Harm's shoulder-boards, he grinned. "So…congratulations on your first star."

"Thanks." Harm replied amiably wearing a chow-eating grin on his face. "Catching up to you."

"Sorry, Harm ol'buddy." Animal grinned back. "Good try, no banana." he stated drolly as he looked at his friend, a frocked rear-admiral (lower half) and said proudly. "My friend, the esteemed CNO caught me by phone, on my way out the door to come up here and told me that I just was frocked myself...two-star." Animal grinned as Mac, Harm and Liandra gasped. Mac was the first to recover, decorum be damned and embraced her husband, giving him a lingering kiss on the lips. Animal grinned – a sign he had a bad pun winding up..."Now, isn't that 'frockin' amazing?" Harm, Lia and Mac groaned. 

Rear Admiral (upper half) AJ Chegwidden grinned as he came out of his office. "So…do I hear something about an admiral being promoted?" the former SEAL and current Navy Judge Advocate General queried.

"That you do, Admiral." Animal replied. "Was just frocked Rear Admiral (upper half) less than 2 hours and fifteen minutes ago – as a matter of fact on the way out the door."

Astutely assessing Animal's uniform, AJ informed him. "I see you're out of uniform, Admiral. Two stars, isn't it?"

"Yes, it seems so, doesn't it?" Animal replied. "If there is a PX in this place, I'll hasten to remedy the situation."

"Glad you could join us. Admiral." AJ grinned as he stuck out his hand as Animal reached out to grasp it.

"Glad to be here. I assume that you will be the head of the entourage?" Animal asked.

"Yes, they specifically asked for me by name. I figured it would be good to have staff with me." AJ said.

"I guess I'm just accompanying my wife, sir." Animal grinned not able to repress a quip. "Never could pass up a date with a pretty Marine." He smiled at Mac, who rolled her eyes and restrained herself from swatting his arm. "Admiral, what seems to be my role in this whole VIP shindig?"

"You just play the whole war-hero thing."

"Oh..." Animal said dryly. "War-hero? Didn't know I was one. Rabb here on the other hand..." gesturing at Harm's ribbon rack with the Distinguished Flying Crosses.

Mac smacked him in the arm "Look at your ribbon-rack, you dummy!" she said unable to suppress her laughter any longer.

"Oooooooh..." Animal tried to look at his own ribbon rack, inspecting it carefully upside down, then said flippantly. "It's real colorful..."

Harm, Lia and Mac laughed as Animal looked up with a goofy expression. Animal could always be counted on to not be dignified around his friends. Animal was a competent battle group commander who excelled in leading by example; not by applying an iron rod. His temper was well-known when it came to incompetents, but to those who excelled, he was fair enough so that a lot of his pilots begged their detailers to be able to continue to serve in the Black Aces. Once he received his captain's eagles, that mentality extended to the air wing he commanded. After his first star; the entire battle group.

Mac rolled her eyes. "Ten plus years I've been married to him and he still baffles me." They all knew she was just kidding. Animal and Sarah had been married for slightly over ten years and it was going smoothly. Life couldn't look much brighter, his career was on the rise, her own career meant that his absences wouldn't feel as lonely as if she were a civilian and married to a serviceman. Still, Mac still missed Animal when he went on deployment. She had often said, "A star won't change Animal, he'll still be at the front where he's most comfortable."

Harm, Lia and AJ laughed. "Well, Colonel, you knew what you were getting into when you married him..." Harm riposted cheerily. Animal stuck his tongue out at him.

Mac's eyes glittered as she gave Animal a fond look, "Did you remember to bring the suitcases?"

"Yep," Animal replied, "They're in the back of the car."

"We should stop by the PX and get you a new set of shoulder boards and collar insignia." Mac suggested as she took him by the arm. "I think they're still open." They were open and Animal picked out a set of collar insignia for Animal's khakis and a set of shoulderboards for his whites. Purchasing them on his debit card, Animal was about to put them in a bag to set up later when Mac plucked the shoulder boards from his hand and unbuttoned the rear-admiral lower half shoulder-boards from his shoulders. Sliding the rear admiral (upper half) two-star shoulder-boards onto Animal's service white uniform, she gave him a sizzling kiss that hinted of more amorous ideas once they debarked in Riyadh. Animal's return smile was brilliant.

It was a quick drive to Andrews Air Force Base to wait for a C-141 Starlifter.

_**TWO HOURS LATER**_

An Air Force C-141 Starlifter lifted off the runway at Andrews Air Force Base. The Navy members of the JAG team and Animal were dressed in their service whites and black jackets. Mac had on her Service Charlies and khaki jacket. Animal had his _peanut butters_ in the duffle bag. Admiral Chegwidden sat on one seat beside him. Mac had laid her head on Animal's shoulder trying to catch some shuteye during the flight. This late at night, who gave a rat's patootie about personal displays of affection?

"Admiral, is there anything we need to be concerned about?" Animal asked, a tone of worry clouding his voice.

The admiral looked at Animal, the tone of his voice equally worried-sounding. "I hope you requisitioned yourself a sidearm."

"Why don't I like the sound of that, Admiral." Animal raised an eyebrow. "SEAL intuition?"

"Admiral, something just doesn't sit right on this one." A.J. said as he gave Animal a hard look. "and every time I've had one of these hunches, I've been right. So I listen to them."

"I've got my Beretta in my duffle, sir." Animal looked at him. "I hope I don't have need to use it." Animal replied, his own butterflies starting to take wing in his stomach as his warning sense heightened.

The C-141 was shared by a group of Marines from the 3rd Marine Expeditionary Group, and the aircraft was full. And the hiss of the pressurization blocked out any engine noise while the Starlifter flew on through the night sky onwards towards Riyadh.

A movement on his shoulder about two hours into the flight interrupted Animal's pensiveness. The Admiral was off pacing the interior of the C-141 giving the Marines fits, none of them were comfortable seeing flag officers this close and having three brass: two two-stars and one one-star in close personal proximity for a fixed period of time, was enough to keep them hopping up in positions of attention like camouflaged jack-in-the-boxes regardless of A.J.'s admonitions of "as-you-were." Mac looked up and murmured at Animal…"What's wrong, honey, you look worried."

"Something doesn't sit right, Sarah." Animal replied. "That's how come A.J.'s pacing a hole in the floorboards of the Starlifter, and now, thanks to him, I'm worried too."

Mac sighed. "I know. The ambassador indicated that there was an attempt on his life, just last week." She knew Animal was not going to like the sound of that.

"Just last week?!" Animal snarled, his ire at that sorry spook rose exceptionally high. "And they still decided to drag you into this shin-dig? Who asked? Clayton Webb? Do I have to kick his sorry ass again?"

"Calm down. It's not like these things don't happen here. It's quite common. One leader will try to kill the opponent. It's all a matter of control." Mac tried to reassure her now bear-like husband. It took a long time before Animal was able to settle his internal stomach which was now turning cartwheels.


	2. Chapter 2

RIYADH AIR BASE  
>RIYADHKHALED  
>SAUDI ARABIA<p>

The C-141 Starlifter landed at the base. Animal had changed in the back to khakis, as he knew the minute the door opened he was going to be hit with a wave of hot air. Wearing service whites would make him a target especially in any foreign country. His glimmering two stars more prominent on his collar and the sizeable ribbon rack unnerved the Marines of the Expeditionary Force even more. It wasn't just the size of the ribbon rack; it was the top-most ribbon that unnerved them. Sky blue, five stars in an up side down M shape along the width of the ribbon. Very few alive wore that ribbon, even less who were still serving. It marked him as one of the few who nearly gave all in the service of their country. He sure as hell didn't want to receive another bronze star on that topmost ribbon again. Even being a recipient of one was hell enough. The second-most ribbon on his ribbon-rack didn't do anything to quell their nervousness either. Navy blue with a white stripe through the center, the Navy Cross was ranked the second highest award that one could receive in the Navy for heroism. The fact that AJ also sported a Navy Cross on his rack was making the poor 3rd Marine Expeditionary Force have nervous fits.

Animal was uneasy going into this hotbed of unrest. He knew that as American servicemen and women; that local insurgents marked them for Al Qaeda kidnapping attempts. He did not like this situation one bit.

The Starlifter's cargo door opened and a blast of hot air came into the cargo hold. It was a piercing 115 degrees Fahrenheit in the shade, and the sand blowing didn't make it feel any better. The Starlifter's landing had raised up a large amount of dust and it hadn't settled as the Starlifter had come to a stop. It felt like being sandblasted. The desert-BDU equipped men and women of the 3rd Marine Expeditionary Force couldn't exit the Starlifter fast enough – they wanted to get away from flag officers as expediently as possible. Grabbing their gear, they emptied the Starlifter inside of three minutes.

"Welcome to Saudi Arabia." A heavily accented Saudi voice was heard from out of the blowing sand. "If you will come this way. We shall show you to the quarters." A rather tall middle-eastern officer wearing a light blue uniform and air force blue trousers stepped out of the blowing sand kicked up by the still active turbofans of the C-141.

"Thank you. I feel like I'm eating sand." Animal said with an amused glance at the gentleman.

"Ah, that is what most feel like out here," replied the Saudi Air Force officer. "I am Colonel Hossein Achmed Hamid. Royal Saudi Air Force."

"Rear Admiral Nakamura." Animal responded shaking the man's hand. "Kayf-al-hal,"

"Bkheer, shukran," replied Col. Hamid as they walked towards the building "It is very nice of you to learn our language. Admiral."

"Well, Colonel, I learned some phrases out of necessity since the US Navy conducts operations in your part of the world. It is never wise to not honor the cultures of other countries. It makes diplomacy much easier when there is mutual respect among cultures." Animal stated firmly.

"Ah, I have met the beautiful Colonel Mackenzie before. She is your wife, I believe, now." The beauty of nations intelligence agents, they kept tabs on everyone.

"Yes. She is. I've been married to her now for a little over ten years." Animal replied.

They reached the building and were ushered in the door, out of the blowing sand.

"Admiral Chegwidden." Another heavily accented voice said. "I am Admiral Hamir Al-Fahid. Welcome to Riyadh/Khaled. We have brought you here because of our need to conduct more joint exercises with high command. We have had problems with Al Qaeda insurgents and with bordering Iraq. Saddam has made our lives hell, as you say in America."

"And just how do you want us to do these jointly coordinated exercises?" A.J. asked; his suspicions in high-gear.

"Well, that is what you and I and the other admiral here will have to come to agreement on." Admiral Al-Fahid said.

"Does the State Department know about this?" Animal growled. "You needed to go through the State Department about matters of this importance."

"We have and the American State Department representative is right here with us." Admiral Al-Fahid said with a self-assured smile.

Mac's disgusted groan caused Animal's eyes to roll. Sure enough, Clayton Webb walked through the door.

"A.J., Admiral Nakamura, Mac, Harm, Liandra" Clay nodded to each of the officers in turn.

"Webb?" Animal's growl filled the room. "You ruined Mac's and my vacation for this?"

"My apologies…Admiral, but as you know national security takes precedence over free time…" Clay said as Animal snorted derisively; disgust showing on his face.

Animal leaned over to his wife. "Y'know, Mac, where I'd love to shove his national security?" Mac snickered in response.

_**LATE EVENING  
>AL FAISALIAH HOTEL<br>RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA  
><strong>_

Animal stretched out on the hotel's bed. Mac came out of the bathroom dressed in a diaphanous shift. She looked over at him. "Tuckered out, sweetie?"

"Jet lag is a killer" Animal told his wife. He continued to look out the window of the hotel room.

"Are you still getting those same hunches?" Mac sat down, stroking her husband's neck and massaging his upper back, caressing him, trying to sooth away the tensions that seemed to cord his muscles into knots.

"Yeah. Something's not right here." Animal looked deeply into Mac's eyes and continued. "I just can't pinpoint it…and it's making me suspicious of Clay's intentions as well as those of the Saudis." 

"Any chance I can make those suspicions go away, at least temporarily?" Mac whispered softly in Animal's ear as she moved her hands lower down his chest, her own body pressed up against her husband's back. Animal sighed softly as her hands crept still lower, caressing softly. Turning around, he wrapped his arms around Mac's body and drew her softly to the surface of the bed. "I love you…" murmured Mac as she wrapped her legs around Animal's to draw his body closer to her. No more words needed to be said as Mac expertly made her husband attentions focus towards her rather than anything else. His reaction to her touch was all she needed.

"Mmmm…" Mac sighed softly as she whispered in Animal's ear "I did promise you something while we were at Andrews, didn't I?"

"That you did…my love…" Animal replied. Her skin felt warm to his touch and she shivered in anticipation as he caressed her in return.

She went ahead and did what she had promised and it turned into a night of bliss.

_**NEXT DOOR – THREE HOURS LATER**_

Harm muttered acerbically, "Are they still at it?" while Liandra grinned at Harm's supposed pique.

_**RIYADH AIR BASE  
>RIYADHKHALED  
><strong>_  
>Admiral Hamir Al-Fahid stood quietly peering into the darkness of the Saudi Arabian night. His plan was going very well. First the Americans would be good bargaining chips for his plan to succeed. There had to be a shift in alliance, or Saudi lives would be at stake. For too long the Saudis had been at the mercy of the American government. Now it was time to cast away the stone that had impeded the Saudis from taking their rightful place at the head of the Arab world.<p>

'Americans, they depend so much on their women. Women hold a higher status in the Western world than they do in our country,' he thought grimly. 'Take away their women and the men are helpless.'

The two women in the party would have to be kidnapped when opportunity presented itself. The tall male JAG lawyer Rabb was emotionally tied to the young blonde female lawyer, and the Asian admiral was emotionally tied to Colonel Mackenzie. That should incapacitate them both. The older admiral, Chegwidden, would be the problem. Al-Fahid grimly thought. 'I will just get someone to eliminate him permanently.'

He turned on his computer. Poking through the myriad files on a certain website, he found what he was looking for. Typing a message for his contact. "Allah's will be done, task will soon be completed." After sending the message, he shut off his computer.

_**AL FAISALIAH HOTEL  
>RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA<strong>_

Harm and Liandra ate breakfast looking at A.J. knowingly. Animal and Mac were late, VERY late. The looks passed between the three of them were filled with merriment. Animal and Mac were going to get ragged on when they got downstairs.

_**AL FAISALIAH HOTEL  
>RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA<br>ANIMAL & MAC'S SUITE**_

"Hmmm," Animal mumbled contentedly as they lay there entwined in the sheets. "Love you lots, jarhead."

"Love you too, but I think it's time to get up, squid." Mac murmured softly her bare shoulders visible mainly because her left arm was draped over Animal's chest. "I really don't want to get up, y'know."

"Then let's not?" Animal whined.

"Yeah, but then you'll know what's going to be going through Harm's and Liandra's minds."

"I guess…" Animal mumbled still not entirely convinced of the necessity of getting up. "Well, race ya to the shower." 

_**AL FAISALIAH HOTEL  
>RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA<strong>_

_**CAFETERIA**_

"Should we call room service?" Liandra asked Harm who shook his head. "Maybe they forgot to set their alarm." Harm tried to restrain a paroxysm of laughter. "What's so funny?" Lia asked her husband who couldn't contain himself after that innocent question.

"Probably…in…the…shower…right now…" He managed to gasp out between fits of hysterical laughter.

"oh…" Lia said subdued, getting the picture. "…OH…" giggling softly.

"You two are incorrigible…" remarked the admiral who despite his stern admonition had a look of merriment on his face too.

_**AL FAISALIAH HOTEL  
>RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA<br>ANIMAL & MAC'S SUITE**_

"Maybe…showering together was a bad idea…" Mac gasped, trying to catch her breath, the shower cascading over their heads as she leaned back against a sodden Animal who grinned unrepentantly. "I think we wasted one hour fifteen minutes and sixteen seconds and we're still not clean." She turned to face him.

"It was worth it." Animal responded.

"I think if we don't keep our hands off each other, we won't get downstairs before afternoon and I'm hungry, sweetheart." Mac leaned in, forehead to forehead with Animal. "You want a hungry jarhead on your hands?"

"Hmmm, hungry for what?" Animal asked, his grin shameless.

"Ooooh, you!" Mac said giving him a mock look of annoyance. "I'm hungry! That's what!"

"What?"

"FOOD! Need to eat!" Mac gave him a glare.

"OK…" Animal said as he grabbed the bottle of soap and started lathering. "I guess that means we'd better head downstairs."

_**AL FAISALIAH HOTEL  
>RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA<strong>_

_**CAFETERIA**_

About half an hour later, Animal and Mac came into the hotel's dining room hand in hand. Harm looked at Liandra with another knowing grin.

"Glad to see you're both awake." A.J. intoned, barely suppressing a grin.

"Yes, sir, the jet lag was a killer." Mac said, turning red. "Uh…his excuse."

"And yours…Colonel?"

"Um…" She stammered.

"Never mind, Colonel" A.J. said, "I think we generally get the drift. Harm, Liandra and Mac will have to come with me, Admiral. I'd like for you to get in contact with members of your squadron. Ideally, if they can manage to smuggle themselves in on pretense, it would be best."

"Aye, aye, sir." Animal replied, having a hunch that he knew was much like the admiral's. Animal looked over at his JAG counterpart and knew instantly that the admiral was packing heat.

Animal had also tucked his Beretta 9mm M92FS in a hideaway belt holster that he had obtained from one of his law-enforcement buddies.

"Anybody else?" Animal asked meaningfully.

Harm patted his waistline. Animal was dressed in civilian clothes to make sure that he looked as inconspicuous as possible. Inconspicuous as far as his military style haircut could make him. Plus it also made it easier as far as he was concerned to hide that Beretta.

"I'll find a phone here and see if I can contact my buddies." Animal replied, turning to his wife, he leaned over and whispered in Mac's ear. "Stay safe, sweetheart." PDAs were frowned upon in Saudi Arabia. Sharia law and all that.

"I will…" Mac said, affection coloring her voice as well as evident in her glance towards him.

_**Riyadh Market**_

_**Riyadh, Saudi Arabia**_

Mac looked around as the four walked along the market street. As they were in civilian clothes, the fact that they were Americans was not so apparent. The problem was that they with the exception of Mac looked like foreigners. AJ and Harm definitely stood out as did Lia. The tents and market storefronts were potential places for terrorists to lurk waiting to snatch the unsuspecting foreigner and place them in the hands of Al Qaeda where they could potentially be tortured and killed.

The hostility from the neighborhood was palpable. AJ looked around nervously. If there was an attack that was going to be coming from somewhere, this area would be it. The people in the market were appearing to ignore them, yet were trying to get away from them as quickly as possible. Harm and Lia were watching the crowds carefully eyeing their situation; to try and see if there was a simple way to get out of the area without arousing the attentions of the locals.

Mac, her eyesight keen, noticed some heads in behind the rows of displayed goods that were familiar. They had been trailing them for the past few blocks. "Admiral, I think we're being followed." She notified them.

Harm and Lia reached for their side-arms, drawing them quietly so as not to alarm the locals into flushing them out. AJ did the same, as did Mac. The four of them manoeuvred into guard positions.

"shewf. alameyrekyeyn 'ela! [There they are, Americans, Get them!]" a shout rang out over the din of the crowd. The crowd scattered like a school of fish, leaving them with little option but to dive over the fruit stands and behind what available cover they had.

"Coming to the market was a great idea." Muttered Lia as she peered around the corner of the fruit stand that she was hiding behind; her Beretta in her hand. Harm sat quietly panting behind her, his own Beretta in his hand.

"Well, Persian rugs are popular and I wanted an authentic one for our living room." Harm quipped.

"Yeah, well, I think this rug-buying excursion has been curtailed for the moment." Retorted Lia as she looked around to see if those responsible were still trying to hem them in. "Maybe we should ask the people following us if they know of a well-priced carpet?"

"Sure." Harm grinned. "Great idea?"

The admiral looked over across the street to see the men trying to angle their way in order to capture them. Levelling his Beretta, he fired off three shots at them, all ricocheting off the ground in the now-deserted market place.

"I see three men with rifles. I'm sure there's more of them." Mac stated as she swept her eyes from side to side looking for anything suspicious that moved. A movement to the left hand side drew her attention and she let off a round. A wet thud was heard as bullet impacted flesh and the resultant cry of pain.

"azel alegheta'. kanewa yetleqwen alenar 'ela alewlayat alemthedh! [Take cover, they are shooting at us!"]

Mac snickered, "I think what Lia suggested would throw those bastards off." She called out, her voice rang out over the deserted market square. "ahel t'elemwen ayen ajed sejadh jeyd? [Does anyone know where I can find a good carpet?]" Absolute silence as the pursuers were probably debating amongst themselves as to what the hell were their quarry asking them about carpets.

Using that interval of time, the four American officers quickly changed their cover location trying to keep un-noticed. A barking report quickly dissuaded them from figuring that they could go any further.

"tewqef , la zeyadh aw seytem etelaq alenar. [Stop, do not go further or you will be shot!]" A voice directly in front of them rang out. The four stopped as they saw a Saudi man with an AK47 automatic rifle; muzzle pointed towards them, his finger on the trigger. Luckily for them, the AK47 had a heavy trigger pull and the man would have to visibly pull on the trigger to fire off rounds. "wed' aleslah 'ela alared! [Put your weapon on the ground!]"

The admiral put his Beretta on the ground and stepped away from the weapon, motioning his subordinates to do so too. There was no point to resisting and getting killed. They were not special forces and AJ knew that despite his own special forces (SEAL) background this was a situation where they were outnumbered (the men they were followed by). They didn't have the tactical training to take out multiple targets and survive themselves. Mac, Harm and Lia reluctantly put their weapons on the ground; Harm giving the 10 men, one noticeably limping from Mac's shot which had struck him in the leg, the death glare.

The leader growled. "alekhenazeyr alameryekyh aleklab, alewlayat alemthedh. yeqawem alemwet. [American pig-dog, you will follow us. Resist and die.]" motioning the four officers forward with an abrupt jerk of the muzzle of his AK47.


	3. Chapter 3

_**RIYADH AIR BASE  
>RIYADHKHALED  
>SAUDI ARABIA<br>**_  
>Admiral Al-Fahid mentioned to Clayton Webb. "I see that your friends are very late."<p>

"Yes. I don't understand. Admiral Chegwidden is very punctual." Clayton Webb muttered worried about the no-show of the JAG officers. "Something must be wrong."

"I'm afraid I don't have much time if we are to co-ordinate efforts to rid ourselves of the terrorists."

"I'll go see if they're still at the hotel." Clay replied, not sure if he would like the answer to the questions being raised in his mind.

"Yes, Mr. Webb. Do that." Admiral Al-Fahid hid a smile as the State Department representative left. 

_**AL FAISALIAH HOTEL  
>RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA<br>**_  
>"Yeah, it's me. Commander Burrows!." Animal growled into the phone-line. "Willya shut the hell up and let me speak, Commander?"<p>

"Yes, sir."

"I'm here in Saudi Arabia, I need you and about ten others in the squadron to get on a plane and get your precious little fannies over here. I got a suspicion the JAG has gotten himself, his precious JAG flyboy attorney, his precious JAG flyboy attorney's wife, and my wife into big trouble. I'm gonna need some backup."

"Yes, sir."

"Get you and those ten others on a plane ASAP. I'll expect you in Riyadh in two days. Don't try contacting me other than at the hotel. I got something else to do."

"What's that?"

"I'm going to kick Webb's nuts up in the general proximity of his oral cavity. That's what." Animal snarled.

_**AL FAISALIAH HOTEL  
>RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA<br>HOTEL LOBBY  
>1645 hrs <strong>_

Animal's alarm sense tingled when he saw the Al Jazeera news and his wife's Marine "Class A" uniform portrait photo flashed on the T.V. monitor through the static that seemed to pervade over all television transmissions in the Middle East. He couldn't understand the majority of the telecast announcement, but he could decipher just enough to know that his wife was in trouble…BIG trouble. The four were late, far later than they should have been and the fact that they hadn't made communication made Animal fear the worst. It didn't take a rocket scientist to put two and two together.

At least he knew that the backup would be coming but they were still on the East Coast hopping commercial flights into Riyadh, scattering themselves deliberately through the arrival schedule. The only thing he could do was make his way to the airport. There would be extra rifles and other gear in Marine 3rd Expeditionary Force armory and they would make themselves available. Keeping a low profile was the most important part of this exercise. There was nothing he could do but wait for any sort of news until his friends got in. Until then all he could do was pace the floor in frustration.

Animal looked across the lobby to see Clayton Webb standing talking to a hotel clerk. Animal got up from his chair and strode across the hotel lobby, an angry look on his face.

"Webb!" he barked.

"Nakamura?" Webb looked up from his conversation. "I was looking…" Animal cut him off brusquely coupled with a threatening look that brooked no opposition. He didn't care that he was talking to the Deputy Assistant to the Secretary of State – as far as Animal was concerned he was talking to a no-load fumble nuts of a CIA spook.

"Upstairs. We gotta talk!"

_**AL FAISALIAH HOTEL  
>RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA<br>ANIMAL'S & MAC'S HOTEL ROOM**_

Animal was not happy and Clayton Webb got the brunt of it. Animal grabbed him by the scruff of his jacket, slammed him up against the wall and jammed the muzzle of his M92 Beretta into his cheek. "Just what the hell were you thinking? You sorry sack of shit!" After Animal had been told that the JAG contingent had not arrived at the scheduled meeting after reconnoitering the area, he had been more than enraged.

"I didn't know. It was supposed to be a simple discussion between the armed forces of both countries."

"Not only did you get my friends into trouble, but you also put Mac into danger. Nobody puts my wife into danger and gets away with it." Animal snarled. "You've think you've got trouble with the State Department, buddy, you ain't seen nothin' yet. You've got trouble right here, right now." Clay only had to look once into Animal's eyes to see that it was true. Animal's eyes were cold, predatory and it would only take one mistake for Webb's brains to get splattered all over the wall of the hotel room.

"I have to contact…" Webb began, but Animal cut him off with a look.

"You're going to do nothing of the sort." Animal said. "By the time your co-horts get their collective thumbs out of their behinds, AJ, Mac, Harm and Lia could all be dead."

"What can we do?" Webb asked. "What can we do except wait?"

"I have a gut-hunch, Webb." Animal snarled. "That your contact in the Saudi Arabian Navy is involved. We grab him, we hold him, then we get the information out of him, then we do a rescue of our own."

"Supposing I agree to this…" Clay started to say, but Animal silenced him with a glare that was near homicidal.

"You are going to agree to this. Webb." Animal hissed, his voice cold and sharp as a razor.

Webb felt cold as a bead of sweat trickled down his forehead and pooled around the tip of his nose. He felt resigned; the admiral was right in one respect. He had put the JAG team in danger. He turned to go.

"Webb…" Animal said.

As Webb turned, all he could see was stars as Animal's right fist connected with his left cheek spinning Webb around and knocking him off his feet. "That's for Mac." Animal growled. Webb found himself on the floor.

"I guess I deserved that." Webb muttered.

"That and a lot more..." Animal said coldly as he proceeded to put his Beretta back in his concealed-carry holster. He was wearing civilian clothes with a tropic vest that concealed his holster so that it was not immediately apparent that he was armed. He carried four clips filled with 9mm rounds in his trouser pockets. "We're going to go see the admiral. Now...what about you?"

"What?" Webb replied. "What do you mean?"

"What I mean, you mentally retarded Clowns In Action puke, is: you ARMED?" Animal poked his face close to Clay's and snarled. "Or do you little pukes run around unarmed in allied countries?"

"Uh...no...I have my Sig with me..."

"Well, make sure you know how to use it." Animal retorted, as he walked out the door. "You coming or not? We're going to meet a few people and find out how to conduct this snatch and grab operation...They're coming in two days, you're stuck with me."

"I have a bad feeling about this." Webb muttered to himself.

MAKARIM RIYADH HOTEL

RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA

TWO DAYS LATER

Animal sat at the restaurant, Clayton Webb sitting a few tables over so as not to arouse suspicion by any Al Qaeda spies. Looking over, he saw a burkha wearing woman coming up to him. His right hand automatically went for his Beretta stopping just short of the butt of the side-arm. As she drew closer, Animal could see the blue eyes twinkling merrily.

"Captain." He raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, sir." She said. "You told us to meet you here." Captain Kimberly Benton grinned. "Figured since their leader was a woman, that she'd better dress like the natives. So burkha it is."

"Good choice, Captain, the locals are suspicious of foreigners."

"Look, Admiral." Commander Philip "Metalman" Burrows mentioned, motioning over at the TV. "Isn't that Admiral Chegwidden?"

"heda hew jebhh aletheryer ales'ewedyh ! wenhen alameryekyh alademyeral wethelathh men mesa'edeyh ! eda nhen la telqey 'ela etelaq serah 'eded kebyer men alesjena' alesyaseyyen an hekwemh alemmelkh al'erebyh ales'ewedyh weqd tem ejera' senqetl h'ela' alesjena'! [This is the Saudi Liberation Front! We have the American admiral and three of his subordinates! If we do not receive the release of several of the political prisoners that the Saudi Arabian government have been holding, we will execute these prisoners!]"

"Sir," Kimber's eyes, which was all that Animal could see of his Commander Air Group, looked alarmed. "They have Mac, Admiral Chegwidden, Harm and Lia! If they do not receive what they are demanding, they're going to execute them." Kimber's language skills in Arabic were from the Navy Linguistics school. She served as their air wing translator in addition to her official post as the CAG. "The Saudi Liberation Front has been actively linked to Al Qaeda. And they're probably one of the most bloodthirsty of the fringe radical Islamic groups."

Animal's blood-pressure started spiking to stratospheric heights. Kimber and Metalman were absolutely certain that steam was starting to come out his ears. "Where the fucking hell is Webb!" Animal snarled. "He never said anything about SLF being tied to Al Qaeda."

"It was a need to know; Admiral!" a voice spoke up from behind him. "And you didn't need to know."

That wasn't the smartest thing Clayton Webb had ever said in his entire life, nor would he get the chance to repeat that, because Animal had whirled around; like a surface to air missile, his fist connected to his right arm was heading; a skin, muscle and bones battering ram, directly towards Clay's nose, rocking the spy back on his heels with a resounding splat. The resultant pull-back allowed Animal to avoid the resultant spatter of blood fountaining from Clay's nose.

"OW! YOU BWOKE MY DOSE!" Clay whined.

Animal snarled venomously. "Maybe next time, you'll disseminate information crucial to the safety of United States Military Personnel." Grabbing Clay by his shirt lapels and slamming him into the nearest supporting pillar he growled with ominous intention. "I swore to high heaven that I will turn this mud-hole into a molten lava pit if they touched one hair on Mac's head! And you will be right at ground zero! You'd better hope to hell that Mac gets released from this with nary a scratch on her or you will be paying for it with a world of pain. Mark my words, Webb."

"YOU BWOKE MY DOSE!" Clay repeated, as if in shock.

Metalman retorted disgustedly. "You'll live. If I were you, I'd stay clear away from the admiral and from his wife in the future, unless you want to suffer a repeat of this."

"Understand, Webb. I want any and all information that you have on the Saudi Liberation Front and I wanted it FUCKING YESTERDAY!" Animal roared. "GET YOUR ASS ON IT!"

"You bwoke my dose!" That seemed to be all that Clay could repeat as the spy picked himself off the ground and got up.

"I want to see that dossier on the SLF TONIGHT! Or you and I will have a repeat of this conversation and we will see how many pieces your nose can break into. Do you understand me? Webb!" Animal growled ominously. "I don't give a flying sour owl shit about your national security! You got me loud and clear?"

Webb gave him a sulky look. "Yes… I god you, loud n'clear." He sounded nasal which meant that Animal _had_ broken Webb's nose. He walked off, though not first without a glare of hostility towards the admiral. The rest of the team that had made it to Riyadh just snickered.

"So who are the operatives?" Animal asked.

"Well, first of all, your former RIO Commander Colin "Skateratz" House." grinned Kimber as she gestured to the short, stocky dark-haired fireplug of a naval flight officer. "then of course the denizens of Seal Team Six. This is Commander Rick Wills" Kimber introduced each team member in turn. "We beat 'em in a game of two card stud".

"Two card stud? Never heard of that before."

"Any more than two requires more brain-cells than these SEALs possess." Kimber quipped.

"Y'know, sir." Metalman joked. "Their modus operandi", he looked over dramatically to see if any of the SEALs understood him. "is insert magazine, pull chambering rod, fire, eject spent cartridge, fire, repeat till empty…release magazine."

Commander Wills looked over at Metalman as if he was a turd on the floor that had just been stepped on. "Admiral, sir, we know one of ours is on the ground here in Riyadh and has been taken captive. We're here to get in, get him and his people out. We understand that your wife is one of his people. That's why we're here to do it."

"Thank you." Animal said, extending his hand in greeting.

"No thanks necessary, Admiral. We're here because we want to decimate some terrorist bastards before they get a chance to do it to us." Commander Wills said. "And sir, we respect you because of what you've done; not to mention, I've been wanting to hit that Webb character from the day I first laid eyes on him."

"Yeah, he's a putz, all right." Animal said. "I want some answers first before we start laying down fire. Maybe that fumblenuts and Admiral Ol'Fathead can give us some. Meet me at the Starlifter in eight hours and we'll see how we go from there."

RIYADH/KHALED  
>8 HRS LATER<br>C-141 STARLIFTER

Commander Phil "Metalman" Burrows poked his head out of the C-141 Starlifter parked in the corner of Riyadh-Khaled Air Base. None of the Saudis had been interested in a forlorn looking Starlifter, which parked itself unobtrusively away from the action. Captain Kimber "Ginger" Benton also peeked out. "We're not attracting any attention." Metalman's cell-phone rang twice then stopped.

"Contact, guys." Metalman grunted to his friends. "The admiral's coming over to us."

Commander Jeff "Skateratz" House and his co-hort Bill "Wild Bill" Mathers looked over at their CO. Wild Bill said. "The beagles have been snitched by the rag-heads?"

"Yeah..." Metalman grunted. "Mac and the rest of the team have been grabbed and Animal's going to deliver some pain on these guys." 

TWO HOURS LATER

A knock on the door of the Starlifter caused the 9 man, 1 woman team to start and reach for their M-16A2 rifles.

"Who is it?" Metalman growled with one hand on his Beretta.

"It's me, you retard!" Animal's voice sounded annoyed. "Open the fuckng door."

"Yep, that's him." Metalman grinned at the rest of the team. Nobody else could sound that abusive. Metalman and Animal had a wonderful relationship. Metalman did things to annoy the living daylights out of Animal and Animal verbally abused the Commander for it. It was special sort of relationship.

They opened the hatch and two rather dusty civvies-clad men stumbled into the cargo hold. One was Animal and the other was a brown haired man well known to the Aces. He was one Clayton Webb, who was sporting a nice bruised and bandaged schnozz.

"Ah...Webb, I take it, Animal clocked you one?" Metalman snickered. He didn't like the Clown-In-Action either.

"I take it you brought me a rifle?" Animal growled.

"Yes, sir." Kimber replied as she pressed a M-16A2 into his hands. Efficiently he broke it down, cleaned it and assembled it back together in 2 minutes and 33 seconds. "Just making sure." Animal stated. "I need all of you in tip top condition and that includes your weapons. If we make one mistake, our friends will die. So we have to do this operation right."

"Yes, sir." The 10 Black Aces said in unison and the 16 member SEAL team nodded their heads in assent.

"I don't like moving without information, but the only way that we can rescue the JAG and his subordinates is making certain that we have the pertinent information. In order to do that we're going to have to make a raid on the only person who has that information.

"And you, Mr. Webb…" Animal grunted. "You will be entering Al-Fahid's office first."

"I really have a bad feeling about this…" muttered Webb.

"You should, Webb." Animal growled at Clay. "Didn't anyone tell you that playing footsies with sand-crabs gets you pinched?"

Clayton Webb raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, and you just got pinched. Webb" Animal finished.

"What a dork." responded one of the Aces who definitely was not in fear of the Undersecretary.

"Let's move out." Animal snapped.


	4. Chapter 4

BEHIND BARS

HIDEOUT

SOMEWHERE IN RIYADH

Liandra looked over at Mac, "I don't like this…" She looked around the cell to see if there was any way of removing the door lock. No luck.

"Neither do I." Mac replied quietly assessing their confinement area, "But they took our weapons, and we have no idea of where we are."

Harm and A.J. looked at each other. "Any ideas?" Harm asked. "Admiral?"

A.J. looked at him dourly in response. "I should have retired last year." The cell was about six feet across and six feet long – and spartan except for the addition of four bunks to sleep on.

Admiral Al-Fahid smiled grimly as he entered the cell. "Welcome to our accommodations. Forgive us…it is rather not to the lavish style of American accommodation." The animosity of the Saudi admiral towards his captives was palpable.

A.J. replied, "You call this…Joint Operations? Al-Fahid?"

"No, Admiral Chegwidden, I call this aggressive negotiations." The Saudi Admiral replied with no small amount of enmity. "For many years, the Americans have meddled in the affairs of the Arab world, and now this is payback. We will be turning you over to Al Qaeda if your Undersecretary of State does not negotiate the removal of all Americans from Saudi Arabia and provides funding for a million dollars to our defense treasury." He casually shrugged his shoulders. "And if the American government fails to pay…" he left the ominous threat hanging unsaid.

Mac rolled her eyes. "And guess where that is going to line the pockets of?" she said sarcastically.

"SILENCE WOMAN!" Admiral Al-Fahid snapped back at Mac, resisting the urge to hit her. "You Americans are so pathetic, you let your women speak nonsense. In Saudi Arabia, we know better."

Mac bristled, but kept her silence. Knowing her husband's temper, he would come charging into that stronghold hell-bent on wreaking vengeance if he knew she had been killed. After all, he was of the same culture who had spent WWII crashing their aircraft into U.S. warships. Suicidal charges meant nothing to him. The blue-button he had earned, was a result of a near-suicidal charge somewhere in the mountains of North Korea. Mac shivered at the thought of the admiral being enraged enough to charge a whole battalion of Al Qaeda terrorists. Her eyes welled up as she quietly thought about her husband and she turned away from the rest of the group to look at the wall of the cell. She knew how lost her husband would be without her and it would be like him to mount a suicidal charge at Al-Qaeda solo.

_**RIYADH/KHALED**_

_**TOWER**_

Animal kept his M-16A2 at the ready, when he heard a voice behind him. "Admiral…?" He nearly whirled around, dropping the M-16 and simultaneously reaching for his fighting knife, when he heard the rather sound of Colonel Hossein's voice. "I do not agree with Admiral Al-Fahid's dealings. I should like to assist you."

Animal raised his left eyebrow. "Well, Colonel, First thing I want to know is where's Al-Fahid's office?"

"Follow me." The Colonel motioned them towards a door located by the base of the air traffic control tower. "The admiral has an office in this building. We may find information about the admiral's whereabouts and dealings in his office. It is locked however."

Metalman grinned evilly. "That's easily rectified…" he said hefting his rifle meaningly. Wild Bill hefted his pack and withdrew a clayish brick.

"Naw, Metalman, I got somethin' better."

"What? You plannin' on taking the whole building down?"

"Naw, back in my days on the farm in Granton, we used this stuff, thanks to my Pappy in the Marines, to blow tree stumps. Only took a li'l bit. I'll jus' stick this li'l ol bit'a C4 to the door and we're gonna make whoopee!" Wild Bill grinned. "Any y'all dogies got some det cord and a detonator cap?"

Kimber smiled, holding up a fifteen foot length of det-cord and a det-cap. "Will this help?"

Wild Bill gave her a brilliant smile as he raised a thumbs-up and Metalman rolled his eyes.

2 minutes and a brilliant flash later, the door was removed by force from the building. It blew in about 30 feet. "Nice parabolic arc. Wild Bill!" Metalman grinned as the door cart-wheeled through the air blowing a hole through a wall with the impact. The Aces, M-16s at the ready, entered the building, each providing others cover as they one by one headed up the staircase.

BEHIND BARS

HIDEOUT

SOMEWHERE IN RIYADH

The food was gruel…not much better than what was given to the goats, of which seemed to be at least numbering fifty surrounding the building. Evidently whoever was holding them captive was trying to make it seem as if they were an Iraqi goat herder.

The captor noticed their looks of disgust at the food and said sarcastically in broken English "Many thousand pardons. Food not look good. But better food than death."

AJ looked at his officers "Well…" he said "Let's eat." Harm looked at the food as if it would leap up and throttle him. Mac sighed, as she dipped the eating utensil in the gruel, wishing that it would turn into bowl of Animal's famed sukiyaki repasts. She smiled to herself as she imagined biting into the pineapple rings and the strips of chicken and beef that floated around an absolutely delicious broth and the vegetables; the bok choy which established a nice little counterpoint to the meat. Animal had learned that recipe from his father. She could taste the sukiyaki already and she sighed wistfully. A cough brought her back to their current situation.

"Excuse me, Colonel?" AJ's voice interrupted her train of throught. "Is there something you'd like to share?"

"Sir, just missing my husband's meals. He cooks a really mean sukiyaki dish." Mac said wistfully imagining the meal in her mind. "I remember that dish from my stint in Okinawa, but since his family roots are from Kochi, he makes the dish differently from Okinawans."

Well, Lieutenant Colonel, keep that in mind, hold strength from it. Trust me, you'll get to taste that sukiyaki again." AJ said with a determined tone of voice, wishing inside that he believed in that as well. Hopefully the one person who wasn't captured up in this whole situation that the JAG lawyers found themselves in had the situation covered and would manage to get them out of it. At least that's what AJ hoped.

_**ZNN ON TV **_

_**JCS **_

_**PENTAGON**_

"This is not a joke, we have several members of an military envoy captured hostage. Admiral Chegwidden, Colonel Sarah Mackenzie, Commodore Harmon Rabb and Captain O'Hara." The bearded Arab terrorist speaking on the TV had an AK-47 prominently leaning against a nearby wall. "You will deliver $1,000,000.00 into our hands, they will be executed by beheading. You have 24 hours."

"Bin Laden's expecting a million dollars in 24 hours?" asked a vice admiral, "Is he nuts?"

"Bob, I think he already proved that significantly with his attack on the World Trade Center with the bomb in the parkade and with 9-11." Said the CNO. "Do we have a fix on his position?"

"No." came the deflating response. "We've never had any sort of fix on him since the September 11th attacks in 2001. Sources say he's in Pakistan, but even so, every transmission is a blank wall and no clues as to his whereabouts."

The Chief of Naval Operations swore clearly and loudly as the transmission from the bearded terrorist leader ended.

"We have to do something, sir." Another admiral stated. "We can't just leave our JAG in the hands of the enemy."

"No, we can't and we won't. What about the CIA asset in the region?"

"Evidently he's not in communication with the CIA, until further notice, we're going to have to assume he's been compromised." The admiral in charge of military intelligence informed the CNO of even more bad news.

The general consensus of the Joint Chiefs of Staff was that "We're screwed!"

"What happened to the asset's satellite phone?" the CNO asked.

"Evidently since he's been compromised, he's hiding and has turned off his satellite phone to make sure that Al Qaeda doesn't get a fix on his position. If he communicates, he's in even more problems." The admiral in charge of intelligence responded, his arms crossed, his eyebrows knotted in concentration, trying to think of something that the Chiefs of Staff could do.

Looking at the map, another admiral said. "We could send the USS Nimitz battlegroup in to strike known Al Qaeda targets in retaliation."

The CNO shook his head vehemently blowing up that idea. "We can't do that. If we escalate by attacking a member of the UN, we will have Russia raining nukes down on our head."

RIYADH/KHALED

TOWER

The door to Admiral Al-Fahid's office was kicked in – the SEAL team were covering the door – the Aces quickly rushed in, M-16s at the ready, and came face to face with…

"NOTHING!" Metalman shouted, a note of frustration in his voice. "DAMNIT!"

The room was empty, except for a few maps scattered on the desk and a computer system.

Kimber was the first to volunteer. "I can hack this computer and find out what's in there."

Animal said. "Good thing, go ahead. CAG."

Kimber grinned. "Ah…good thing, this is a Win95 OS, I can hack it inside of 10 seconds flat. All I need to find out is what the password is." The Aces scrambled around to find items around the office that could possibly serve as ideas for passwords. Kimber grinned about a minute and a half later. "Ah…got it."

"What was it." the Aces asked.

"Baklava."

Animal groaned.

"I've got a fix on their location." Kimber said. "Anybody remember to bring a thumb-drive?" Three hands thrust forward with thumb-drives. "Great." Kimber said, taking two of them. "Thanks." She opened up a window and threw some folders into the thumb-drive folder. "There we go." She affirmed the download was done quickly quickly and removed the thumb-drive from the USB port. She looked over at Animal "I have their GPS co-ordinates and I brought our GPS units along with us." Her smile was smug.

Animal looked at her admiringly. "Gee, Cap'n, you think of everything, don't you?"

"I try to, Admiral." She grinned at him, eerily similar to a female version of Metalman's wise-ass grin. Animal thought to himself that those two were hanging out too much with each other.

"Well, let's get out of here before we have company." Animal said as he grabbed his M-16A2 and ushered the rest of the group out, bringing up the rear. Retreating back to their cover (the C-141 Starlifter) the SEALs and the Aces pulled up the pilfered information on the laptop that the SEALs had brought with them. There was a comprehensive list of sites that the Saudi Liberation Front had in the Riyadh area.

Animal paced the Starlifter's floor not liking the situation one bit. There were too many places to hit at one time and if they hit one at a time, all the enemy needed was advance notice and the hostages could be moved. It seemed like an exercise in futility, but Animal wasn't about to give up on trying. His wife's life was on the line and every second counted. Turning to the SEAL Commander he asked, "Commander Wills, which one do you think is most likely?"

_**HIDEOUT**_

_**SOMEWHERE IN RIYADH **_

Animal looked coldly out at the structure that his wife, his friend and other members of the Judge Advocate General office were being held prisoner in. There seemed to be no activity at all at the building. This could mean one of two things. Either the terrorists had fled taking their hostages with them or the hostages could be inside…more than likely dead. If the terrorists had done anything to Mac, Animal swore to himself, that he would make the terrorists wish for a quick death. He had sworn to uphold his officer's oath, but that did not extend to extending mercy to those who would do injury to his wife.

Pulling the arming handle of the M-16A2 to jack a round into the chamber, he looked at the members of his team. "We're going in." he said shortly.

"Yes, sir." The team members had their weapons at the ready and deployed themselves around the door in a manner to take the building quickly. Kicking the door in, the unit entered the building. The room was empty.

"Check every square inch of it." Animal barked as he looked over at his friends. "Look under the rug to see if there's a trapdoor."

Wild Bill looked up and said, "Admiral, I found something. It looks like there's a trapdoor leading down into what appears to be a larger area."

"The bastards have gone to ground." Animal snarled looking down the length of corridor. "OK. Drop yourself in, we'll be coming down right after you. Cover us when you get down there."

Wild Bill lifted up the trapdoor, took his M-16 at the ready and dropped through the door. Rolling he came to his knees, his M-16 aimed down the corridor. The Aces and SEALs one-by-one dropped through the trap-door and took up positions beside him. Animal dropped last through the trap door into a crouch. "OK…clear." Wild Bill raised his fist up in the air to signify that the area was clear. The damned trapdoor led into a corridor.

The Aces, weapons aimed down the length of the corridor, headed down it.

(half an hour later)

"Does this corridor lead anywhere?" Metalman grumbled irritatedly. "The dust is doing wonders for my sinuses."

"Oh, quit'cher gripin'." Wild Bill snarled. "At least there's no one shootin' at us."

"Perish the thought." grumbled one of the other Aces.

They could hear voices speaking down at the far end of the corridor. The voices were Arabic. Animal drew his index finger across his throat in a cutting motion. That meant 'go silent'. The Aces and SEALs shut their mouths putting their weapons at the ready.

When they got to the end of the corridor they found a door. Animal motioned to Wild Bill who brought out a small bit of C4 and attached it to the door hinges. He also connected two detonators to the charges. They moved back through the tunnel about 400 meters. When Wild Bill twisted the switch in the detonator, the door blew in, startling the speakers, who took a few moments, fatal moments to reach for weapons. Animal's crew had their weapons at the ready and within seconds had taken the majority of the terrorists out.

Metalman had his Beretta at the head of a terrorist who was wounded, "I've got one that can talk still. He speaks passable English"

Animal looked at the terrorist with a predatory smile. "OK…"

"Where are the prisoners." Kimber asked.

"The prisoners were removed an hour ago." The terrorist replied, pain coloring his voice, as he sat slumped in the corner of the room. He knew that it would possibly go better with him if he co-operated. "But you will never find them."

"Ask him if he knows where they went." Animal growled, pulling out his combat knife, a USMC Ka-Bar, a gift from his wife and running it along the edge of his trousers. That drew the eyes of the terrorist towards the knife, a thin bead of sweat trickling down his forehead from his hairline. "Tell him my culture knows creative ways of using a knife to torture someone if they don't co-operate." Giving the terrorist an opaque stare – the terrorist unable to read any intent in the action.

"They were taken to a house. The map is on the table." The terrorist gasped out. The gut shot had taken a lot of energy out of him. He was a hopeless case. No doctor would be able to save him. But it had been said that the Americans were a merciful bunch. Perhaps they would take mercy on him and not kill him outright but grant him a martyr's death.

"And how long are they supposed to stay there before they are taken to Bin Laden." Animal snarled, no sympathy at all coloring his voice. Take his wife, would they? Kindness would not be forthcoming from him.

"There is no contact with Bin Laden." The terrorist gasped. "They will be…executed…at the…house …if the conditions are not met." Shaking fingers pointed out the location on the map.

"So they will not be moved from there?" Animal looked at the terrorist. He held up the knife and contemplated it, causing the terrorist to twist in fear.

"No." was the answer. Within a split-second Animal flipped the knife, and then threw it. A gasp from the rest of the Aces as they saw the butt of the Ka-Bar protruding from the throat of the terrorist, as the terrorist's eyes rolled up into the back of his head. The SEALs kept silent – they knew what the cost of their business entailed – sometimes it meant coldly killing the terrorist involved – it was worth the cost if it meant that one more innocent couldn't be harmed by the terrorist.

"What the-" Kimber gasped at Animal's cold-blooded execution of the terrorist.

"He had a gut shot, he wouldn't have survived." Animal responded coldly. "And I'm not about to drag Abdul the Butcher with us. Get the map. We're going to have to hurry." He stood up and strode over to the now dead terrorist, pulled out the Ka-Bar and wiped it clean on the fatigues of the dead terrorist.

"Yes, sir." Kimber said.

"Listen up…Aces." Animal said coldly. "These people kidnapped people we care about and love and they will kill the people we love if we do not act. They deserve NO mercy from us and they will get no mercy from me. Does anyone have a problem with that?"

"No, sir." was their unified response.


	5. Chapter 5

_**Somewhere in Riyadh**_

Liandra looked over at A.J. "How many hours do we have?"

"Just a little over 15 hours, if we don't get rescued." A.J. said as he looked out at the guards standing there. Mac didn't bother correcting him. She knew that despite her internal clock, this wasn't any time for humor.

Liandra was sitting beside Harm curled up in his arms. Mac looked contemplatively at them then turned back to AJ. "Somehow, I know Animal's looking for us."

"He's going to put himself in danger doing that." A.J. responded. "We all know that the State Department isn't going to do anything about it."

"I wouldn't count on Webb either." Mac replied, a bit of moisture collecting in the corners of her eyes. "I just miss Animal so much." She whispered, her soft admission full of longing.

AJ looked at her. Though he hadn't seen the courtship between Mac and Animal, he knew that the admiral thought of the Marine Lieutenant Colonel as his life and vice versa. When Liandra had taken up with the erstwhile ex-fighter pilot JAG lawyer, he knew that Harm and Lia would be inseparable. He snorted to himself. He was becoming an insufferable romantic.

_**Outside of "Somewhere in Riyadh"**_

Animal stood outside the house that the map had said was where they were holding Harm, Mac, Lia and A.J. He stood behind some trees and scouted out the building. A fire-team from the 3rd Marine Expeditionary unit was with them to augment his Aces and the SEAL Team involved.

"I see one sentry out by the fence." Animal said to the Marine Major who was looking through the binoculars at the sentries on the fenceline.

"There's two more by the front gate." The Marine Major looked at the admiral. "I think we can make it."

The Marines had brought crossbows as well as their M-16s. The first kills would be made with crossbow bolts to silence the cries of the sentries. Gunshots would alert the inside guards and would increase the chance that the hostages would be killed. The Marines, SEALs and Aces had maneuvered themselves so that all the guard positions would be silenced at the same time so the chance of them warning the inside guards would be considerably lessened. At a pre-arranged signal, the crossbow shots were fired and the guards seemed to slump over as one. No alarm was raised and Wild Bill set some C4 charges on the door and blew it. As one they raced inside, the shots ringing out. When the smoke cleared, the terrorists guarding the cage where the JAG attorneys and Judge Advocate General were being held were dead.

Mac looked up to see her husband looking at her. "Stand back, hon." He said as he raised his Beretta and fired it at the lock. Using his arm, he wrenched back on the door hard, which wasn't really necessary since the barred door sheared out of the secured pivot point being wrenched. Mac flung herself into her husband's arms – she wasn't one for public displays of affection, but in this case, it was certain that it could be excused. Tears flooded her eyes as she realized just how lucky they really were at being rescued.

"Oh, god, honey…" she sobbed, her face buried in his chest, her body shaking from the stress and terror of her imprisonment.

"We found you." he said. "Sarah, I wasn't going to stop looking." He said firmly looking into Mac's eyes.

"But this isn't finished yet." Metalman growled, giving voice to the thought of retribution against the Saudi admiral. "We gotta put Al-Fahid out of commission."

The Marines and the former hostages filed out of the building into their Humvees. Animal turned to Wild Bill, anger apparent in his voice as he gazed over the place where his wife and her friends had been imprisoned. "Place C4 charges around this building. I want the damned thing flattened." He growled. "Then we're going to find Al-Fahid and I'm going to put a C4 charge with detonator down his pants. Nobody messes with my wife and gets away with it." he snarled malevolently, his tone promising dire retribution to Al-Fahid.

When they were 500 yards away from the building, Wild Bill twisted the detonator. A loud explosion as smoke and flame wafted out of the building and then the building slowly imploded and crumbled to the ground.

Webb looked over at Animal. "Where do you think we'll find Al-Fahid? He may have fled." Animal looked over at Webb, a dangerous look crossing his face. He knew where Al-Fahid would be hiding and knowing the habits of that slimy weasel, he'd be in the most apparent place to be found.

_**RIYADH AIR BASE  
>RIYADHKHALED  
>SAUDI ARABIA<strong>_

"The Americans!" Al-Fahid growled. "They accessed my computer." He had come down to the tower to find the door blown off its hinges. "They have the hostages back." He looked around him in a panic. Where to find a way to get away? Not to mention, Bin Laden would probably send someone to finish him off wherever he chose to hide.

"You're done." Said a cold voice. Al-Fahid turned around to find himself looking down the muzzle of a Beretta. The cold voice belonged to an even colder looking visage. The Asian admiral held the Beretta on the Saudi admiral, his cold eyes bearing as much mercy as a great white shark on the hunt.

"It takes a big individual to kill a man in cold-blood." The Saudi admiral replied trying to allay his own fear that the admiral would just pull the trigger and be done with it.

"Just as it takes a big man to kidnap innocent people." The Asian admiral snarled, venom coloring his voice. Flipping the safety active on the Beretta he threw the Beretta back at his friends. "Let's settle this the man's way." He looked sardonically at the Saudi admiral. "Bare hands."

"To the death." Al-Fahid growled as he raised his fists.

"So be it." Animal snarled, his only reply to rock back on the balls of his feet.

Al-Fahid charged Animal only to get a knee to the gut. Animal double fisted a hard chop to Al-Fahid's back driving Al-Fahid to his knees, only to meet a fist to the stomach. Animal doubled over gasping. Al-Fahid drew up Animal's head and smashed a hard fist to the side of the face. Animal fired back an elbow to Al-Fahid's chest followed up by a rib-crushing straight-armed punch to the midsection. This wasn't any display of martial arts, this was just two men brutally beating each other. Animal delivered a boot sole with crushing impact to Al-Fahid's chest driving Al-Fahid back towards the desk. Al-Fahid countered with punches to Animal's side. Animal waded into the punches, taking them with ease and turned around delivering a shop to the side of the neck of Al-Fahid that drove him to his knees, then Animal delivered a low kick to the side of Al-Fahid's head that caused Al-Fahid's eyes to roll up and he slumped over, unconscious in a unceremonious heap on the dust covered floor.

"Cuff the sonovabitch, check him for weapons and take him into custody." Animal ordered. "He'll get an Sharia trial and when that's over, he'll get his just desserts."

_**C-141 Starlifter**_

_**Interior**_

Animal looked at Mac. "God, I missed you." he murmured as he wrapped his arms around her.

Mac looked back at Animal; a tender look crossing her features "I missed you too." she replied, her lips grazing his as she ran her fingers through his hair. "I'm sure Al Qaeda is breathing a collective sigh of relief."

"Why?" Animal asked.

"They wouldn't have to face you then." Mac said as she caressed his arm looking up at him with deep affection.

"Sarah, this is just going to be a redoubled effort on our part." Animal stated firmly. "The USS United States is going to be launching round the clock operations against suspected Al-Qaeda strongholds. We're going to find them and we're going to dig them out. They haven't faced my anger yet, but they're going to feel it now and they don't have the benefit of having a battle group at their beck and call, like I do. Let's see how they like a million tons of ordnance falling on their heads." Mac shook her head as she smiled at her husband. A Marine loved it when her Navy husband talked tough and considering that he could back it up. "And they'll learn not to mess with a battle-group commander's wife." He grinned.

"oh, you…" The Marine gave her Navy husband yet another kiss. "I love it when you talk tough, honey."

"Yes, Lieutenant Colonel Mackenzie-Nakamura…" Animal teased her back. "And I can back it up with a carrier air wing, my dear." Animal turned to AJ, "Sir, permission to ask the JAG a question."

"Sure, go ahead, Admiral."

"Can we get the hell out of Saudi Arabia?" Animal asked pointedly.

"With all due haste." AJ agreed.

"I'd have to say, this vacation was a complete and utter bust."

_**RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA **_

_**TOWN SQUARE**_

_**2 months later**_

"It is the Sultan's order that this perpetrator be put to death." The executioner intoned. "The charge is attempted murder, kidnapping and consorting with terrorism as well as treason towards the Sultan."

"Does the accused have anything to say before sentence is carried out?" The executioner asked.

Al-Fahid looked up at the executioner with a stone countenance. He saw his death before him. The executioner secured Al-Fahid's neck with another sandbag. Then he stood straight, unsheathing a curved Arabic sword, "Let Justice Be Served. In'Sh'Allah!" he roared, as he flashed the sword in a sweeping arc. A gasp arose from the crowd as the stroke severed Al-Fahid's head from its neck.

Blood stained the sand around the site as arteries pumped out blood from a body that didn't know it was dead yet.

The Sultan decreed that all traitors would be fed to the dogs and thus the body of Al-Fahid found another use other than to consort with terrorists.

**ZNN BROADCAST**

**JAG HEADQUARTERS**

**FALLS CHURCH, VA**

"Today, the execution of Hamir Al-Fahid was carried out by Saudi authorities. Charged and convicted of attempted murder, kidnapping and treason, the former admiral was executed by beheading in the Saudi tradition."

Harm, Lia, A.J. and Mac looked up at the monitor. Animal was back at sea again, conducting strikes against Taliban strongholds in Afghanistan with his battle group. The rear-admiral (upper half) had fought a long battle with the CNO to get himself back out to sea though anybody two-star and above usually had a shore command. It was protracted due to the fact that the Joint Chiefs thought that anybody above one-star was a non-expendable resource.

Mac sighed remembering what a fiasco that trip was. "What a vacation that was. Though I could have done without being captured and imprisoned for a week."

Harm replied as he looked over at Lia and Mac. "No kidding. I think we owe your husband our lives."

Mac said. "And I'm sure he'd just say that he was only doing what normal husbands would do in trying to rescue their wives." She chuckled. "I think he still owes me a vacation in the Bahamas."

"Watch out for pirates." Harm grinned. Mac crumpled up a paper into a ball and threw it at him. "Well…you guys tend to get into trouble all the time." Harm protested the flung object.

"Thanks a lot." Mac grumbled giving him a cynical look. "If I recall correctly, it's you that attracts the trouble then my husband has to save us from it."

Lia looked at them and just said. "I'm just glad to have gotten out of there with our lives. And we certainly owe Animal for that."

Mac replied as she panned her gaze at Lia then Harm. "Sorry to change the subject but I've got a case to prepare for. I'm going." …as she made to go into her office.

Lia said. "So do I." and headed for her own office.

Harm looked over at Mac. "Tell your husband thanks for me, when he next communicates with you."

"I will, Harm." Mac replied quietly as she hoped for the best for her husband who was deployed. Mac went into her office and closed the door. On the desk was a letter. She smiled as she saw the return address "FPO USS United States." Animal's carrier. It was just a quick note scrawled in between busy periods, but it was a note written with all of Animal's love sent with it.

_Hey, Lover,_

_Missing you lots. The carrier is busy as heck as am I. But I don't seem to be getting any flying time. We're busy trying to pound the bad guys back into the Stone Age. Can't wait to get back once our rotation is over. Maybe we can get to the Bahamas this time. _

_Love you lots, _

_Animal_

Mac sighed remembering their homecoming.

_Flashback_

ANDREWS AIR FORCE BASE

Animal grumbled as he got his duffle bag off the Starlifter. "I'm glad to get out of the Middle East. I've got sand in cracks I didn't even know I had."

Harm chuckled. "Yeah. Sand seems to get everywhere, doesn't it."

"Webb make it back yet." Animal asked, not really caring about the spook. Maybe he got back, maybe he got caught by the Taliban and was being beaten to death as they spoke.

"Yeah, he's still nursing that broken nose you gave him. He's also complaining to everyone who'll listen." Harm chuckled at the thought of it. "Of course the JCS told him to go suck lemons."

"Well, he deserved it." Animal grunted, not really caring, the only thing he cared about was that his significant other and her friends were alive and safe.

"I think I want to head home and take a shower." Liandra said as she scratched a spot just below her shoulder. "I just feel absolutely grimy and disgusting."

"So do I…" amended Mac. "I need a nice long soak. Every bone in my body aches and I need to wash the sand out of my hair." She laughed softly seeing a grin cross Animal's face.

"Well, that clinches it." Animal said as he shot a look at his beloved. "We're out of here."

ANIMAL AND MAC'S HOME

RICHMOND, VA

"Hey, honey…" Animal grinned at his wife who was lounging in the tub soaking away all the aches and pains of that Saudi Arabian trip, her tips of her wet tresses caressing her shoulders "Feel better?"

"Not for about another couple hours." Mac replied sighing languorously giving Animal a loving glance. She was immersed happily in a bath full of bubbles, evidently soaking away all the sand and grime that had managed to get into every possible part of one's torso that it possibly could. A bath was so simple yet accomplished so much to make someone feel human again. "How soon are they going to ask you back out to the front?" Mac asked not wanting to hear the answer that her husband would probably be back out on the front line in the war in Afghanistan against the Taliban.

"I don't know about how soon, CINCLANT is going to want the battle group turned around and ready to go again. The hostage taking incident has made it necessary to go back out."

Mac sighed. "And just when I thought I had you back for a while." Her distress evident in her voice in such a way that Animal wanted to wrap her in his arms and take her pain away.

"Well…I don't know how long I'm going to be home for, that's going to be a day-by-day thing until I get orders, but I'm home for tonight." He looked at her with a meaningful glance.

Mac grinned at him, knowing exactly what she wanted. "Well, then aren't you a bit over-dressed? After all, we need to make efficient use of our time, shouldn't we?"

Animal grinned…and complied.

*********THE END**********


End file.
